Dinosaurs In The Wild

Another half-term treat, we went from all things robotic to discovering dinosaurs at Event City in Manchester. This was heavily promoted but I hadn’t given it much thought until reading a review of its Birmingham stint, was intrigued and decided we had to go. I am a bit of a sucker for these immersive live-action things….

We waited until the second week of Son’s half-term, booked our tickets the night before and had our choice of time slots for the whole of the next day. It takes 70 minutes in total, I admit to having my breath taken away when paying – £25 each means it is most certainly not at the cheaper end of the scale.

Arriving at our allotted time, we were given 3D glasses and met our “guide.” It reminded me a lot of a Disney or Universal themed ride – all very well done and very convincing.

We entered our “time machine” (definitely a bit cheesy) and watched as the years counted back 67 million years. Then we climbed into our “jeep” to get to our destination – the “laboratory” of a company researching dinosaurs. This was one of my highlights, an excellent simulator, it really felt like you were on a dinosaur safari as the shutters came up and we started to move.

Outside the windows were lots of dinosaurs and very convincing looking terrain. The graphics and 3D side of it were realistic and this is the best of this type of thing I’ve done in the UK. Normally we find them a bit disappointing and not a patch on the Disney experience, this was right up there.

We arrived at the labs and explored room by room with our guide. A huge Alamosaurus heart was pretty striking, Son enjoyed pressing the button to see it pump and pulse.

Good laboratory theming here and even the chance to get stuck in with more messy things…

We saw a dinosaur autopsy in the next room, again very well done and interesting as a 5 metre long creature was dissected.

We found dinosaur eggs about to hatch….

Saw some caged creatures….

Then took the “lift” to the lookout area. Again this was superb and with the 3D glasses really felt like we were in a panoramic viewing area looking out at prehistoric life on the plains outside.

We had a while there, then a dramatic ending obviously to rush everyone through and into the gift shop. It was realistic – maybe a bit too much so for a couple of young children who were hysterical by the end – but we enjoyed it. A T-Rex attacked the lookout, we had to leave by the emergency bunker and experienced lots of sirens, darkness, flashing lights and more than a bit of drama.

Of course you leave via the gift shop, Son and Husband tried out a few gimmicky things testing their strength and looking at the world from a dino perspective.

Son also tried out a dino tail for size…

A great 70 minutes, definitely not the cheapest experience but it was so well done, different to anything we’d experienced and you definitely didn’t need to be a dino nut to love it.

It was actually worth the money I think. We said exactly the same thing – everything was so well designed and set up and there were so many people doing different roles so I can see the costs were high.

Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this! My older son would have loved this as he LOVED dinosaurs… my younger would hate the dramatic ending. Seems like a fun and different thing to do during a school break!

Absolutely Rosemary, I had a sharp intake of breath at paying £75 for a 70 minute thing but actually came away thinking it was worth it – we had such a great afternoon and it was so different to anything else we’ve done.

It really was worth the price, we loved it. Normally these type of things fall way short of a Disney experience – they just do it all perfectly! I can’t help but compare and this time it was right up there!

Thank you Marion for your kind wishes – really appreciate that you were thinking of us! Taken a little break over the last couple of months, I am recovering having come to the end of 18 months treatment for breast cancer. All the way through we were able to have nice days out and do some lovely things – I also avidly read other blogs and loved that, but this last final phase of treatment really wiped me out. I am slowly starting to pick myself up again though and hopefully get back to doing things again albeit gradually and slowly. I may write a post about it all sometime – a bit of a hard thing and I’m struggling a bit with putting the words down but I figured it might help someone somewhere at the beginning of this and show there can be light at the end of the tunnel!
Again I really appreciate you getting in touch Marion and hope to be back very soon both writing and reading!
Hope all is well with you.

Lovely to hear from you Joy and I wish you a speedy recovery. When you are feeling stronger send me a private message and we can perhaps have lunch out together in Manchester. That would be nice to look forward to! Marion

Joy just came on here to check out what has been happening as have missed your posts and have been busy with visitors then read the comments above. I am so sorry to see that you have been so unwell and think how amazing you are to have managed to blog about things in such a positive way all the past year or so. I wish you a very speedy recovery from your latest treatments and send lots of love and positive thoughts your way take care love Rosemary xx

Thank you so much for getting in touch Rosemary and for your lovely words – I can’t tell you how much they mean. It has been a tough time for us, however blogging and reading other blogs has been so good for me, really lifted my spirits and helped me to focus on something nice! I managed to keep going all the way through the various treatments however right at the end it seemed to hit me hard and I have had to rest these last couple of months and do very little. I hope I am starting to come round again now though, hopefully will feel like blogging and reading blogs very soon too! Hope all is well with you and your family Rosemary. xx

Least I could do Joy – admire your courage and positive spirit in challenging times! I do hope you start to feel brighter soon I can well understand how wiped out you would feel. We are all fine thanks – settling down into a new routine after a busy time with visitors. Our elder granddaughter started school last week – can’t believe how the time has flown by. Very best wishes and just take your time re blogging there is no rush and your health is your number one priority, take care xx

Hi Rosemary – how lovely to hear from you, thank you so much for thinking of me. Feeling a lot better, I had a bit of a setback earlier in the year but am now on new medication and getting back on track again. In fact we managed to grab a few days in the Lake District during the Easter holidays which was really lovely, all very last minute but a nice treat so things are definitely going in the right direction. Hope all is well with you and your family. xxx

Hi Joy that is so good to hear and very nice of you to reply – didn’t want to add to any stress. Lovely that you could get away for a few days break to the Lake District – such a beautiful place and hopefully the weather has warmed up. It was unbelievably cold when we were over last month – we arrived in the midst of the “Beast From The East” can’t remember feeling so cold for a long time but we did see a lot of snow, which was very pretty! Yes very busy here as my daughter is doing some further studies as well as working (she’s a primary school teacher) and juggling her 2 kids plus husband, house etc. This week we are helping out quite a bit. Our London based daughter is flat chat with work too but we did see her for a couple of weekends when we were over. Glad you are starting to feel better and wishing you all the best, hope your family are all well too, take care xxx 🙂